At Home with: Eden Miller

Eden Miller of Cabiria welcomes us into her Queens apartment for a look into her multi-purpose design/living space.

How long have you lived here?

Almost three years.

What is one of your most prized possessions?

The furniture in the living room I’m kind of in love with. I went and stalked it at an antique furniture dealer over and over and over again and kept trying to reconcile the fact that you couldn’t really have somebody sleep on it because it’s not that comfortable— but it’s such a cool-looking couch and a cool-looking chair. I’ve always been happy in that room. I’ve always been happy sitting on that furniture so I definitely made the right choice.

There are those quilts that I have in there that I made and the one that’s on the back of the couch is made from all band tee shirts from independent record labels because I’m an old punk rock kid and I love bands, especially indie labels. And they’re both traditional Amish double wedding ring quilts, but done in this really non-traditional way.

What kind of influence does your childhood home have on this apartment?

The home that I grew up in as a very young kid was definitely 70s influenced. There were shag area rugs and big bubble blown glass pendant lamps And for sure those burnt orange, amber tones from that era saturate my aesthetic. I definitely key in to some kind of weirdly kitschy Americana — definitely it’s an influence.

How often do you redecorate your apartment? Have you ever redecorated?

I moved here after a major breakup and I had gotten rid of a lot of my belongings from when I had moved in with my ex so I was starting from scratch. So, three years ago everything came in new.

My mom passed away a little less than 2 years ago and when she passed away I went through her house and ended up taking in a lot of her stuff and stuff that had been my grandmother’s and my great-grandmother’s. It was important to incorporate these things that were part of her world and my family’s lineage. Stuff that had been brought over from the old country, smuggled in and hidden in the seams of a dress and things like that.

How do you feel about change in your living space? Are you repainting a wall every other month? How important is consistency to you?

Stability is very important. One thing that a lot of people don’t know about me is that I was a homeless kid from 13 to 16. And kind of a classic thing about that is that when you finally do find that home structure, you dig in with your claws. So, I very much am home-based — very protective of my sanctuary.

What kind of overlap do you see between the aesthetic of your personal space and the design of your clothing?

I have definitely been accused of being a maximalist as far as color and pattern in my dresses are concerned and I think that goes for my home as well. There is definitely flow through on my personal aesthetics and the designs of my clothes.